Game Day: Avalanche Take On The Injury-Depleted RangersThe Rangers will play their first game without Chris Drury and Marian Gaborik on Monday night...

Todd White will make his season debut

Avalanche @ Rangers

Madison Square Garden, 7:00 p.m. Monday

Rangers record: 1-1-1

Avalanche record: 3-2-0

Monday night the shorthanded Rangers will take on one of the
league’s most exciting young teams, the Colorado Avalanche.The Rangers will have to overcome adversity
in the coming weeks with injuries to key players Chris Drury, Marian Gaborik
and Vinny Prospal.Without them, the
Blueshirts will be forced to count on the line of Brandon Dubinsky, Artem
Anisimov and Ryan Callahan to carry the offense.The trio will be the only line left intact,
and many of the team’s other forwards will be thrust into bigger roles in the
coming weeks.Erik Christensen is
expected to return to the Rangers’ lineup in between Derek Boogaard and Todd
White who will be making his season debut.

The free-wheeling Rangers have displayed an improved offense
this season and solid secondary scoring, but that will be put to the test
without the three veterans up front.The
Rangers certainly appeared to have depth at forward coming into the season, but
they couldn’t have expected to need it this soon.With such important players out, the
Blueshirts would do well to re-focus on their own end where defensive lapses
have become too frequent.It will be
difficult for the team to consistently outscore opponents especially without
three of its stars, so playing positionally sound, mistake-free hockey will be
essential.Henrik Lundqvist has been as
good as always thus far, but his numbers have suffered as a result of the
Rangers’ defensive inefficiencies.

The Avalanche surprised a lot of people last season with a
playoff appearance and near-upset of the San Jose Sharks.Colorado
struck gold with its signing of veteran goalie Craig Anderson and several
out-of-nowhere performances from young forwards.Obviously the team expected a lot out of No.
3 pick Matt Duchene, but guys like Chris Stewart and Brandon Yip emerged to
play big roles for the Avs.The
Avalanche will provide a serious test for the Rangers, as they are arguably the
fastest skating team in the league.It
will be difficult for New York to shut down
wave after wave of the swift and talented Avalanche forwards, but the Rangers
may have a chance to exploit an aging and declining Colorado defense.For the Rangers to stay with the Avalanche,
they’ll have to be very careful with the puck, as one or two turnovers could
put the game out of reach quickly.One
key for New York
tomorrow and in the next few weeks will be to capitalize on power play opportunities.There’s no doubt the Rangers will struggle to
score as much with Gaborik out, but making the most out of man advantage situations
would go a long way.